


Never Yield

by sharkplant



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Tattoo Parlor, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-07
Updated: 2015-04-06
Packaged: 2018-03-02 15:21:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2817011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sharkplant/pseuds/sharkplant
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Rin and Haru went to Australia in their last year, Haru wasn't phased, didn't change. He returned to Japan with the resolve to follow Makoto to Tokyo and that was that. Rin suffered a case of history repeating itself after going to Australia for the third time. (At least he had Sousuke this time.) He returns to Japan having given up on swimming, joining his sister and old captain at a body mod shop in Ikebukuro and life is pretty standard. Until of course Haru walks in.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimer and A.N.**  
>  This fic discusses un-safe self-done poke and stick tattooing. While drunk and depressed. I do not personally condone this. Please do not do the thing. Please do not. Because something you think you want to have unprofessionally plastered under ur skin sounds fckin awesome when you are pissed, might not be so great the next morning. If you are going to poke and stick, do it sober, do it safely or better still have someone else do it and make sure they are sober.[ Have a wikihow](http://www.wikihow.com/Give-Yourself-a-Tattoo-Without-a-Gun).
> 
> Regardless, I am a 17 year old. I **cannot** and **will not** take any responsibility for your decisions.  
>  With all that doom and gloom out of the way, I hope you enjoy this however man K this 2014 nanowrimo attempt of a brain fart ends up being. Deepest adoration and admiration and other positive things that end in –tion to [beth thecaravanpalace](http://thecaravanpalace.tumblr.com/) who was my enabler for this. _luv u_
> 
> un-beta'd so all grammar/spelling/factual mistakes are all on me

His ears were cold and he could feel the onset of the sniffles, but the Ikebukuro chill did not chase Rin inside, catching the back end of his sister's question over the bell.

‘…do I owe you?’ she asked from behind the glass counter, leaning over it and making grabby hands for one of the coffees Rin carried.

‘The same amount you always do. Just add it to the tally and forget about it.’ Gou paid his gap on the rent went he couldn’t. It all evened out. For some reason Gou was paid more than Rin. He put it down to his sister working for Seijuuro for longer. Speaking of which. He glanced around. His boss wasn’t anywhere. ‘Where’s Sei?’ he asked, removing Mikoshiba’s order from the thick cardboard tray and setting it on the glass counter. He wiped his nose on his jacket sleeve.

Gou stabbed a thumb toward the backdoor, scowling at the false name scrawled on the cup, before curling both hands around her takeaway cup. ‘With a client. The one who wanted that piece that Nitori spent all last week on.’ Rin smiled a little down at this coffee. Nitori.

He was a fantastic artist, a great assistant with piercings; he helped the ones who hated needles. Well, hated needles for the couple of seconds they were required to have one through a part of their body. However, he was terrible with blood. And he was so antsy back when he was tattooing oranges (he never got up to pig skin. Not that it really mattered; he would have been squeamish at that anyway. He went vegan after he quit competitive swimming) that he pressed too hard or a line was just off the mark. He ended his formal apprenticeship some months ago, but Seijuuro couldn’t pass up the chance to have the boy’s art on the walls, or on people’s bodies, so he kept him on the pay roll as the house artist. Rin saw the once constantly anxious remora settle into calm in just days. But he didn’t stop being a perfectionist. He did not stop being Nitori.

Rin sipped at his coffee and in the shop’s fluorescent light, noticed yet another shiny glint in Gou’s left ear. ‘Another one?’ he asked incredulously. He thumbed the top of his own ear at his sister’s cock of her head.

She shrugged. ‘I've wanted a scaffold. It’s a key. Isn’t it cute? It goes with my plugs,’ she grinned. The plugs in question were rose wood, little keyholes carved through the middle. Rin scowled. ‘Oh, don’t give me that face. Sei helped.’

‘One day you’re gonna wanna stick more holes in yourself and Sei won’t be around.’

Gou rolled her eyes. ‘Oh I wonder what completely unsafe tools I’m going to use to do that. Oh look!’ she goes to open cupboard, taking out a box of individually packaged needles. ‘Totally safe, medical grade sterilized needles.’ She returned them to the shelf, closing the cupboard. ‘And what’s this?’ she walked, holding open the tacky wooden bead curtain, the strings clicking against each other. Gou pointed out the back, ‘An AutoClave!? I wonder what this is doing here.’ Gou goes to the counter, pulling out her piercing portfolio, Rin catching glimpses of skin dotted silver and gold. She stopped on a certificate. ‘Well what’s this, Onii-chan? I didn’t know I had a certificate saying that I was licensed to stab people. It’s almost like I get paid to puncture people’s skin with needles safely. Oh wait,’ she pushed her portfolio shut, ‘I am.'

‘Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit,’ Rin mumbled in sardonic response to his sister’s amateur dramatics. ‘Anyway, you get paid to pierce other people. Not yourself.’ He pointedly ignored her eye rolling by having more coffee. ‘Who’s the client?’ he asked, after Gou had calmed down and returned her focus on her own drink.

Gou shrugged. ‘I don’t know him. But he was really excited. And he kept smiling at me.’

‘So he wanted that shell, right?’

Gou nodded. ‘The colours are nice. But the style is different than what Nitori usually does. More realistic. Still pulled it off though. The boy is talented.'

Rin pursed his lips. ‘How much longer do you think?’

‘Well Sei went in a little after you left. And you were gone for a good half an hour…’ Gou accused.

‘The line was long! You go and buy your own stupid coffee if you want.’

‘Whatever. But not long now I should hope. Sei’s coffee will get cold,’ she frowned, looking at the cup on the counter.

Rin raised an eyebrow. ‘Then take it in to him.’

Gou gave him a look. ‘That would be rude to the client.’

Rin shrugged. ‘Then his coffee will get cold.’

Gou huffed. They would have to wait.

* * *

 

Pickled, potted, smashed and pissed, he had heard other boys say, their words were too long and odd sounding. But by this point, he couldn't tell if it was just their stupid accent or the 10% beer on his shirt, 90% in his veins. Either way, Rin could not tell why he sucked at the English language. But what Rin knew in his thought-slurred brain was that he was drunk. He had never been this drunk. Like, sure his parents had let him have a sip of sake when he turned 13 (they made sure no one was looking) and watered down champagne on New Year’s, but this was different.

He had been leaning against the back of the couch for what was maybe an hour and his back was probably stuck to it by now; it was fake leather and it was maybe 30°C, even at 11 at night, and his shirt stank of sweat and beer and he just couldn’t get it off his head fast enough. However it caught on his ponytail. And this was apparently amusing to someone because Rin heard a soft laugh amongst the rustling of shirt against his ears.

‘You want a hand?’ asked a decidedly feminine voice. Even after he got off the article, Rin could not see them in the dim light. Didn't  matter. He would not be able to recognise them anyway.

‘Oh. You’re that Japanese Exchange kid yeah?’

Rin nodded.

She sat down next to him, nails tapping occasionally against something in her lap. ‘Enjoying the land down under?’ she asked.

‘Under what?’

‘Fuck, you are drunk,’ the words gliding out on a breath. ‘Do you like Australia?’

This made sense. ‘No.’

* * *

 

It took Rin a second to realize he wasn’t actually looking at the media feed his thumb was scrolling when there were a loud yelp coming from the back of the shop.

Gou had looked up too, momentarily ignoring the walk-in she’d just pierced. She looked to Rin.

‘Nii-chan, can you check that please? Thank you.’ Gou returned her attention to her client and continuing the “care and feeding of your piercing” lecture, which undoubtedly fell on deaf ears. The client, from what Rin could see, was only just more pierced than Gou.

Rin sighed and got up to investigate, moving to pull back the tacky bead curtain in the doorway between the store front and the backrooms when he was nearly bowled over by a shirtless, ginger tornado.

He had only a few seconds to recuperate his sense before the oncoming storm that was his boss was standing next to him.

‘Momo Mikoshiba! Don’t break the shop!’ yelled an angry Sei, drying his hands. He sighed at Momo admiring either his tattoo or just himself, (Rin couldn’t tell which) in the mirror. ‘So you’ve met my brother then?’

‘You’re related?’ As he said it, Rin felt stupid for asking. No one else had that hair colour unless it came out of a bottle.

‘According to our mother,’ Sei lamented. His eyes hardened. ‘Momo!’ he barked across the shop. ‘Don’t paw at it! I’ve still gotta cover it! Gou,’ he turned to the counter. ‘Where’s the gauze?’

‘In the cupboard, where it always is,’ she replied without looking away from the client she was handing change to, a client who jumped every time Sei raised his voice.

Momo didn’t miss a beat, sliding over to the counter, taking the confused walk-in’s place. ‘So you’re Gou-chan.’

‘Kou,’ she corrected, without looking up from her laptop. ‘And don’t call me chan.’

Momo’s smile momentarily faltered before he actually climbed over the glass counter, eliciting a both frightened and angry sound from his brother’s throat, making Rin jump. Momo eventually ceremoniously sat himself on the counter and puffing out his chest. ‘Do you like it Gou-Chan? I used to swim backstroke and they used to call me The Otter!’ His hands flew to his hips in triumph. ‘Did you know they carry scallops on their chest? That’s why I got this! Isn’t it great?’

Throughout Momo’s gushing, Seijuuro became progressively antsy at Momo being so close to Gou. He glanced up a few times at Rin, begging for him to interfere, or to get angry or something because it was his sister. In all honesty, while Rin used to be a lot more protective of his sister, in this case, he didn’t really care. It wasn’t as if Gou couldn’t take care of herself. Not to mention Rin would feel awkward stepping between the brothers Mikoshiba. This was Seijuuro’s problem.

Rin’s lack of reaction just served to make Sei more annoyed.

‘Yeah, Momo, but I did it, Gou,’ he interjected, edging the gauze pad he held with medical tape. ‘It was a really complex design,’ he added, nodding to Gou as he pushed past his brother to cover the tattoo.

It was here Rin found it a bit weird to watch; ‘This isn’t my first tattoo though…’ Momo announced, as he sticking his legs out and resting it on the counter, pushing Sei away and proudly presenting the beetles in a static march up his legs and disappearing into his shorts. (Why he was wearing shorts in Autumn...) ‘I got them because I like bugs! Stag beetles mostly. They are really beautiful.’ Momo gasped. ‘I should catch you a golden stag! Would you like that, Gou-Chan?’

Sei pushing Momo’s legs down and loomed over his brother. ‘No she would not.’

Gou’s glance went from the elder Mikoshiba to the younger, arms up in a half shrug and her face all perturbed. ‘Since when did you speak for me, Seijuuro?’

Said elder Mikoshiba, shrunk somewhat at her words. ‘Sorry Gou. Won’t happen again.’

‘Glad that’s sorted.’ She turned to the til, ‘How much is this costing your brother?’

‘Seven thousand yen,’ Sei answered, much to Momo’s confusion.

‘You said five thousand last time! I’m not made of money, Ni-chan!’

Sei shrugged. ‘You wanted a tattoo.’

‘Six,’ Momo pouted.

‘Seven.’ Sei retorted, stubbornly.

Gou sighed, just wanting these two to stop arguing. ‘Six and a half.’

Momo continued to pout. Sei shrugged again. ‘Lowest you’re gonna get.’

The younger Mikoshiba removed himself from the counter and then his wallet from his back pocket, extracting his card. ‘Savings thanks.’ 

The awkwardness as Momo punched in his pin was palpable. It was not until Momo tentatively looked up at Gou and broke the silence, did Rin really not want to be there.

‘Did you know otters hold hands when sleeping?’ Momo asked. ‘So that way they won’t float away and get lost.’

A smile edged itself onto Gou’s face, the corners very slightly curved. ‘Really? That’s so cute.’

‘Not as cute as you,’ Momo grinned.

‘Right!’ Sei said, fingers tapping a rapid tattoo against the glass. Rin thought he could see the jewellery in the case shaking slightly. Before Momo’s payment even went through; Sei was pushing him out the shop, Momo struggling to put back on his shirt.

‘Hold my hand so I don’t float away in your eyes!’ he called from the street.

‘Keep walking, and don’t touch it! I’ll tell you how to look after it tonight.’

‘I know aftercare, Nii-chan!’ Momo yelled back, pointing at his legs.

Rin just stood there, speechless.

* * *

 

The apartment was warm. Good smells came from the kitchen, and the siblings Matsuoka in their sort-of investigation to find the source, discovered a man with his back to them, a back white-bowed at the neck and waist.

‘What’s cooking, Sousuke-kun?’ Gou asked, peering around their roommate’s bulk hiding the stove. She dumped her bag of groceries on the bench and pulled out her messy bun, red hair cascading down before being scooped up and restrained again, this time somewhat neater. Rin followed suite with his bag, after making a clearing on perpetually stuff covered dining table. Which did not matter because they never ate at it anyway and they were still practically teenagers so why did it matter? He started filling the empty spaces in cupboards. The leek and sesame smell was stronger near the stove.

‘What are you making? It smells amazing.’

Picking strips of what looked like beef and dashing them into the hot oil to a lovely spatter sound, Sousuke laughed at Gou screwing up her nose. ‘Don’t worry. There’s tofu for you.’ (Gou had slowly become vegetarian after discussions with Ai.) Sousuke gestured an elbow to a plate of lightly golden bean curd still steaming, without looking away from the beef. He nodded to the pot on the hob in front of the beef. ‘I wilted the spinach and,’ he pointed at the rice cooker. ‘That finished a few minutes ago. Serve yourself, Kou-chan.’ He smiled at her before stirring the meat. Other than Seijuuro when he thought Rin was not listening, Sousuke was one of the few people who used her preferred name. ‘Rin, get some bowls yeah?’ Sousuke asked, turning off the stove.

While most almost twenty-somethings lived off packet ramen and green tea, Rin and Gou had a decent income unlike most, of course barring those with trust funds. They ate better than most. But ingredients were only part of the equation.

It did not make sense to Rin that Sousuke had gone into mechanics rather than hospitality, especially since he was a kitchen hand in Australia. But when Rin got to eat pretty well nearly every night, he was not going to complain. In a selfish way, he was glad Sou was here cooking for him and Gou, rather than hundreds of people a night in some restaurant in Tokyo proper.

He was late into the lounge room because he had stopped to open the new bottle of hot sauce and almost drown his serve in it. By the time eventually Rin walked in after fiddling with the tiny lid, his sister and best friend had settled the TV on the news.

‘Why must you ruin my all hard work with that shit?’ Sousuke complained, half-heartedly as Rin lowered himself on the couch.

He shrugged. ‘You didn’t make curry. I had to make do.’

Sousuke rolled his eyes. ‘I think you do it to look tough. Kou, hide the milk,’ he grinned at Rin, who just raised his eyebrows and lowered his bowl.

‘I bought a tube of extra hot wasabi…’

‘Which you’re never going to eat,’ Gou interjected.

‘I’d like to see you eat a tablespoon without crying,’ Rin continued. Sousuke scoffed.

‘Only if you do it with me,’ he challenged.

Rin awkwardly reached over to Sousuke’s eat with a fist outstretched. ‘You’re on.’ Sousuke bumped him.

Gou groaned. ‘Shut up both of you! I can’t hear the news.’

‘No milk,’ Rin whispered to Sousuke.

Gou nearly broke her bowl. ‘Oh my god, what did I just say?!”

* * *

 

The lounge room was warmer with the heater on. Rin also felt warmer after a few beers.

‘Yeah, he was really creepy, Sousuke. Well,’ Gou thought for a moment. ‘No creepy. Just weird mostly. Why do I always attract that kind of guy?’

Sousuke did not comment. He was too engrossed in trying to pass Rin. Rin did. ‘You calling Sei weird?’ He hit a blue shell. ‘Fuck!’

Gou blushed and stammered, fidgeting and picking at the label on her beer bottle. ‘No! Why would you say that?’

Rin shrugged, after waiting for a straight to take a sip of his drink. ‘You said you attracted weird guys. Sei is attracted to you. Following your logic, Sei is weird.’

His sister’s cheeks were almost as red as her hair. ‘Philosophy doesn’t suit you, Nii-chan.’

That reminded Rin. He had an essay to write. He shook the thought. He would do it tomorrow. The only clients that would come in tomorrow would be walk-ins. And they only ever wanted something small. Occasionally he would mutter to himself about whatever current essay he had going. The more intellectual of his clients would let him talk at them, explaining the concepts and what issue or idea he was focusing on. He liked that he was able to do that. Able to clear his head and get something out of his job, other than cash money.

Thinking about it, he also remembered he has a study session from two. He would need to tell Sei, even though his boss never came in on a Saturday.

While he’d been vauging out, Sousuke had left him in the dust, taking 1st place. When Rin realised with a start, he shoved himself into Sousuke’s shoulder. ‘Oi! Cheater!’

Sousuke groaned and Rin then realised that that shoulder was the one Sou had messed up.

‘Fuck. I’m so sorry,’ Rin left his controller to idle, nudging him this time a lot more gently.

Sousuke shrugged and smiled. ‘It’s fine. I mean you’ve given me first place after all.’

Rin then noticed Bowser crossing the finishing line triumphant.

‘Stop trying to beat me at Mario Kart!’

Sousuke said, smug. ‘I don’t really have to try though.’ Rin narrow his eyes and made a fist.

Sousuke laughed in disbelief. ‘Really?’

Rin did not move his hand. ‘Really.’

Sousuke picked up Rin’s controller. ‘There are no bananas in Jankenpon.’ Rin rolled his eyes and grabbed the controller offered.

‘Fine. Only if I get to be Bowser.’ Rin settled back into the couch, suddenly hyper aware he was pressed into Sousuke’s side unlike before. Sousuke did not comment. Sousuke smelt like soap and beer.

‘It’s not the tool, it’s how you use it.’ Sousuke tutted.

‘You two are so gay sometimes,’ Gou added, from behind her laptop, which she must have left the room to retrieve. 

Rin started the race. ‘Why would you say that?’

Gou did not look up at him, taking a swig of beer. ‘Just look at yourself, all smushed up.’

Rin stuttered. They were sitting pretty close. But it was cold. ‘Gou, we’re best friends. This,’ he fanned a finger between them, ‘is normal.’

‘Yeah. Ok. Just call me when you eventually get it on yeah? I wanna watch.’

It took a second to process that. A good long second. Maybe a few seconds. Or minutes. ‘Wait what? You want to watch me and Sousuke fuck? Oh my God, Gou that’s fucked up. Like that is actually properly messed up on so many goddamn levels and I would be looking for a therapist for you if I didn’t know you were joking.’ He hoped she was joking. 'And you call Seijuuro weird.’

He slipped on a banana. ‘Shit!'

Gou continued typing and drinking. ‘I’m not joking. I don’t have to watch in person. Just tape it or something. Oh!’ She turned her laptop around, showing a pair of blue heels. ‘Sousuke, what do you think of these?’

‘What the fuck is happening here? Sousuke? Haven’t you got anything to say?’ It soon became Rin’s turn to turn redder.

‘They are very nice shoes, Kou-chan,’ Sousuke said, smiling, and apparently oblivious to the current topic of discussion.

Rin could not believe Yamazaki was his friend sometimes.

‘Thank you, Sousuke-senpai,’ she turned the laptop just enough that she could click ‘add to cart’. She finished her beer and yawned. ‘What time is it? Who cares. I’m going to bed. Either keep it down or I’ll come investigate. Nighty night boys.’ She turned out the room light as he left.

Sousuke laughed quietly in the light of the TV, their race abandoned. ‘Well your sister has certainly changed.’

Rin just shook his head. ‘That’s messed up,’ he repeated.

Sousuke shrugged. ‘Some girls are into that.’

Rin turned to him, his face incredulous. ‘Did you miss the part about it being her brother and his best friend?’

Sousuke shrugged again and laughed. ‘Some girls are into that,’ he repeated.

‘Some girls are fucked up,’ Rin replied, getting up and shutting off the Wii.

Silence that ensued was not awkward but I was not at all particularly comfortable either. Questions started to present themselves to Rin. What did Sousuke really think about this? He did not raise any objections. Did he want to fuck Rin? It felt weird to him to consider that, not because Rin had a problem with gay guys or gay girls or any homosexual person or even with his own sexuality. The way he understood it, he was predominantly straight. He would argue predominantly because to a degree, back when he was swimming, either in Iwatobi or in Australia, he could objectively look at a guy and if someone asked if they were hot he would be not be hard-pressed to say yes. His problem with what Gou had said was not the gay bit.

It was the best friend bit.

While Sousuke Yamazaki had not always been there for Rin, and they had their fights when they were stupid kids and even the other year, he had still been the strongest stable point. He was not a light that flickered and left him. He had been a metaphorical, and occasionally literal, hand on his back, just gently nudging him to rights. And while Sousuke’s support could not make Rin a better swimmer compared to the global competition that gathered in Australia like moths to a flame, could not help him qualify just that tiny bit higher, he was always there to make it sting just that little bit less.

He loved Sousuke. That did not feel odd or off to think. But he was Rin’s best friend. Rin loved Sousuke as a friend.

He loved Sousuke as a friend. Not ‘but as a friend’. He loved him. He was his friend. Of course you love your friends.

Rin was pulled from his thoughts by Sousuke shuffling on the couch. 'I'll leave you to your thoughts. I'm going to bed. Good night.' Rin ran a hand through his hair, unable to shake the questions.

'Yeah. Good Night, Sousuke.'

In the half-light Rin could see his friend smile. He was glad Sousuke had found him two years ago. He was glad he got to have his friend back.

Sousuke left the room and in his place sat an emptiness. Even with the heater still on, a shiver went down Rin's spine.

He sat, with a head full of chasing questions but no thoughts and blank eyes for a few minutes. The sounds of 'Bukuro wafted up from the street below.

Rin's phone buzzed against his thigh. He opened the message.

_From Gou._

 

> _That was fast ;)_

Rin clicked his jaw a few times and tapped out a response.

 

> _Fuck off. Go to sleep._

* * *

 

He was in water. He was in a pool. He was swimming. He was not sure if the crash in his ears was that of a crowd or waves or just his arms slicing the water. He was jerked. It felt like his chest going through a rinse cycle, he was swirling and everything was so warm, even to his bones, and everything smelt like yeast and suds. It tasted hot and in some way like yeast, whatever it was. When he actually looked, it was like being under water, or his face was just floating above the surface, the straight lines of the pool’s tiled floor waved and straightened, undulating as he was submerged and pulled back. There were the shadows of small, broken flowers among them.

Then he was being held under. Bubbles spilled from his mouth. They blinded him. He was cold. He could not breathe. And then he could. It felt so good to breathe. Two large stars of heat on his back pulled him in to a pocket of air. He felt safe. The black was still there but he did not need light if he was warm.

Nothing really woke him up. He just felt himself come to the surface of consciousness. The darkness continued. The warm changed. He was in his bed. There were aquamarine eyes burned onto his retinas.


	2. Saturday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *casually doesn't update for 90406948759 years bc life*

Rin regretted not shutting his blinds before he went to bed; the 9am autumn sun pressed unforgiving and bright against his eyelids. At first, Rin rolled his head face first into his warm white cotton ocean. But eventually he remembered he had to work if he wanted to be warm in the first place.

Gou was harder to rouse. It took lots of poking on Rin's part and ignoring on Gou's and pillow throwing on both of their parts to get her to grumble and stumble her way to the bathroom. It lacked sense to brush your teeth before drinking coffee. This however did not stop Gou from doing it. Rin liked to think it was because she was so tired.

There was note on the coffee pot. Rin picked it up, his bleary eyes struggling to make sense of it. He ought to wear his glasses more.

 

>   _Left at 8:30. Should be home mid-afternoon. Stir fry for dinner? Text if you need anything._
> 
> _-S_

Rin almost smiled.

‘Where’s-‘Gou started, walking into the kitchen, trying to bundle up all of her tangled hair. She dropped it when Rin passed her the note. She looked blankly at it. ‘I can’t read this.’ She passed it back. ‘Where’s the coffee?’

Rin poured her a mug because he was a nice brother. ‘You’re going to give yourself a heart attack,’ he said, passing it over. Gou proceeded to heap spoons of sugar into the cup. ‘And diabetes apparently,’ Rin sighed, making himself a cup and rummaging through the fridge looking for the milk. ‘Having to stab yourself with insulin every day will be totally different than getting a piercing, you know that right?’

Gou half groggily glared at him, taking a noisy slurp of coffee. ‘I’ll manage.’

//

It had been awkward carrying a typewriter on the train. If Rin was to be honest it was more awkward trying to buy one that he wouldn’t have to sell his body, either through the organ black market or prostitution but he found one. It was clunky and slow and he quietly hated his poly sci lecturer for challenging the class to not use technology invented after 1984. but even while everyone who saw him using it in place of something normal and thought of him as painfully pretentious, he was using it for all of his courses, not just poly sci. However, people thought that anyway. What was a guy with no tattoos doing working in a tattoo shop? It just did not compute.

So he sat at the counter of Kurōtadori Tattoo and Piercing and slowly tapped out his essay.

‘I really hope Momo doesn’t come in today,’ Gou said suddenly, lying on her stomach on the massage table, laptop resting in front of her. From what Rin could see, she was online shopping again. Although this time for stock. She would often make a cart of pieces she liked and then showed them to Seijuuro for approval. She did this so she could technically say she was working.

Rin looked over his paragraph. ‘He won’t. Not today.’

‘Yeah but he has to come in again is the thing,’ she whined. ‘Sei wanted a photo for his portfolio. Don’t know why he can’t just take the photo at their place. They do live together after all,’ she grumbled.

‘Sei likes to be proper.’

‘Hmm…’Gou hummed, making a small show of clicking ‘add to cart’ on a set of amethyst teardrop plugs.

‘Makes me wonder why he hasn’t asked you out yet. You know, properly.’ Gou squeaked and tensed. ‘It’s pretty obvious you like each other, Gou. And yeah, I’ll admit I may have not liked him hitting on you when you were sixteen. But that’s the point; you were sixteen. I wanted to protect you. I still want to protect you. No one else was really going to.

‘But you’ve known him longer than I have.’

'What I'm trying to say, Gou, is you have always been a girl who goes after what she wants. So why aren't you going after this?'

Gou sat up and closed her laptop, face pained. 'I sorta already did. Well we did.'

'Huh?'

Gou's face was nearly all red, almost fading into the roots of her hair. 'When you were in Australia with Sousuke, I started working here after I came in to get my seconds done,' she thumbed where a small stud dotted her ear. 'I didn't know Sei worked here, I just knew it was a good shop. No yakuza connections from what I’d heard. But basically he pierced my ears and then asked me out for a drink.

'So you dated for a bit?' Rin asked, trying to make sense of this. If anything trying not to be angry.

'Not exactly. I said yes to the drinks thing because catch up right? It was really nice at first. But by the end, we had a lot of drinks. We were drunk,' she specified, looking for time, or just trying to put more words between her and the memories. 'We went back to his place, Momo must have been out.' Gou did not stop staring at her hands.

'I lost my virginity to him. And he'd probably already fucked loads of girls and I didn't really matter.'

Rin felt anger sparking bubbling under his skin, through his blood. Mikoshiba did not stop being a fucking idiot.

But Rin yelling at a man who was not there would not fix the problem. However, his sister, his dear sister, the only really important person he had to protect was crying.

‘I left his apartment the next morning and I felt weird. He asked if I wanted an apprenticeship at his shop just after he’d finished throwing up. You can guess what I said.’

He walked over to her and wrapped her up in his arms. he let her blubber and weep into his neck because this was his sister and she was sad. And Seijuuro Mikoshiba would fucking pay for this.

Gou wrapped herself around her brother, forcing him to hold her up like when they were young. Rin did not mind. He supported her weight easily. He stroked her head.

'It's ok,' he whispers. 'You matter. Not to idiots like him, but to people like me. And Sousuke. We love you Onee-chan.'

While Gou was infamous for using the epithet daily, Rin said it so rarely. He thought that maybe he felt Gou cry a little harder at that.

'You know what the worst part is?' she asked, voice nasal and muffled against Rin's shoulder. 'I still like him. I really do. But I don't know what to do, Nii-chan. I don't know what to do,' a fresh, hot wave of tears hit Rin's jumper, dampening and darkening the fabric.

Rin made a resolve. He would talk to the elder Mikoshiba. He would not stand for his sister being hurt. He said this quietly to Gou, her tears slowing and now just holding on to her brother and North Star. Her breathing slowed.

‘You don’t love me as much as you love, Sousuke.’ Gou mumbled. Rin could feel the edges of her smile against where she was pressed into his neck.

‘I love you both but differently.’

‘So you do love him,’ Gou said, self-satisfied. Rin could hear the smile growing in he voice. He pushed her away slightly, settling her back down on the massage table. She wiped her face with her sleeve. Her eyes were puffy and her nose was dripping and most of her face was a rubbed, blotted pink.

‘One, I thought you were sad,’ he said softly. ‘Two, this is about you, not me. And three, he’s my best friend. Of course I love him.’

Gou looked at him. ‘You have a pretty skewed view of love and friendship. Like for you the line is pretty blurred. I mean remember how you used to be with Haru.’

Rin tensed. He will not touch that. He did not let the bottle of emotion get opened. He put it carefully at the back of his mind and buried it under the knowledge, the pure and undisputable fact, that his sister’s feelings were more important than his various cognitions regarding Nanase were.

If he were going to open it, it would be with great care and with no one around. He would want break something. He probably would break something. Maybe cry. And Rin wasn’t exactly keen on being told not to smash plates or being pitied.

‘Yeah well, the key phrase in that sentence is “used to be”, so this thing you got going on about wanting me and my friends to do gay shit is totally unprecedented and, I will say again, pretty fucking weird.’

Gou shrugged. ‘The heart wants what the heart wants. Don’t hate.’

Rin sighed, hopping up onto the massage table next to his sister. ‘Why do I keep you around?’

Gou grinned despite her tear-dampened cheeks. ‘Because I’m adorable. A God given gift bringing light into your gloomy, angst ridden existence.’

Rin just raised an eyebrow in his typical sardonic silence. A soft tune came from his phone, along with the rattling in its vibration against the glass counter. After going over to check what the cacophony was about, Rin was reminded he had a study group and that he had just over half an hour to get there.

‘Shit I have a thing.’ He held up his phone to Gou as if that explained everything. ‘I’ll be home for dinner,’ he explained, packing away his notes in his backpack and, not forgetting his typewriter by shoving on its cover box on after a minute of slightly violent persuasion. Eventually it clicked.

‘Don’t break the shop,’ he said, mussing up Gou’s hair with the hand not holding the typewriter. He left the parlour.

On the walk to the train, he regretted not putting on his scarf before leaving nor enough free hands to do so now.

/ /

_‘Under what?’_

_‘Fuck, you are drunk,’ the words gliding out on a breath. ‘Do you like Australia?’_

_This made sense. ‘No.’_

_She laughed at his blunt answer. It was a rough sound. Like coughing up water. ‘It’s not for everyone. What with the weather and the spiders and snakes and sharks.’_

_‘I like sharks,’ Rin mumbled._

_The girl chuckled again, like the crashing tide, unloading some things from a plastic box, before standing to twist the dimmer. She introduced herself but the name got lost in Rin’s ears, he was looking at the, now just visible, bottle of black and the pencils and the string and the pins and a single half-filed lighter. He squinted at the disconnected items, trying to make any sense of them. Any at all._

/ /

The train from uni to home was so much better than the train from home to work. It was most notably shorter and cheaper, so yeah, it could very well be classified as better. And Rin did think it was a lot better.

Tokyo came to life at night and even thought Rin’s brain was pretty tired (trying to balance writing own down notes, contributing to discussion and doodling was mentally taxing), the bright neon signs and the wafting smells of delicious hot food more from street vendors rather than fancier restaurants woke him up somewhat. He still felt like he was floating though. He just wanted to eat dinner and go to bed. He’d have to work again tomorrow.

Mikoshiba would be in tomorrow. He clenched his jaw, gripping his typewriter case tighter than was entirely necessary. The acrid anger that he had attempted to neutralize started to bubble again, as Gou’s helpless words replayed on repeat.

‘I don’t know what to do I don’t know what to do.’

Rin had an idea. It involved finally pushing his old swimming captain to the floor like he had always wanted.

However, as nice as that would be, you would also be without a job. He would also probably fire Gou. Then where would you be?

Not a good place he responded begrudging. Stupid brain being all right and logical all the goddamn fucking time.

He took a mental ante-acid. He took in a deep breath of his apartment building’s recycled air and sighed, sealing a plan. He resolved himself that he would cross that bridge, the dealing with Seijuuro I’m an asshole Mikoshiba bridge when he came to it. Which would be tomorrow around 11. Maybe he would burn the bridge when he came to it. He thought, walking out of the elevator and pass the gleaming number eight outside the shaft.

Rin had barely gotten his key into the lock when the door opened. Sousuke was smiling out at him. Rin found it hard to not smile back.

‘Hey, we were starting to get worried and your food was getting cold,’ Sousuke said, moving back against the wall to let Rin walk through. Rin’s nose screwed up.

‘What’s that smell?’ He recognised it after a second. ‘Motor oil?’

Sousuke shrugged sheepishly. ‘I had to bring some parts home. They’re in my bedroom though,’ he assured. ‘Is that ok?’

Rin felt confused. He shrugged a little too. ‘This isn’t my house. I don’t own the place. As long as you haven’t screwed up and put the motor oil in the fridge where the soy sauce should be, do whatever,’ he smiled, going to dump his stuff on top of the other stuff on the kitchen table.

Sousuke laughed. ‘Don’t think I’ve done that. Yet,’ he grinned.

‘You said something about dinner,’ he said, shuffling his priorities.

‘I put it in the microwave,’ Rin heard Gou say from the couch. There was the sound of bones breaking. Of course Gou was playing Mortal Kombat again. Rin did not blame her. In lieu of actually punching Sei, she could punch, kick and break Liu Kang with her boss’ face super imposed on the avatar (at least in her head anyways).

Rin set the timer for 2 minutes and went to look through the fridge. ‘Gou, you want a beer?’

‘Huh?’ The TV was turned up very loud, the sounds.

‘Beer,’ Rin called simply. ‘Do you want one?’

_‘You want one?’ she asked suddenly._

_‘One?’_

_She pointed at the lightly bleeding dots. ‘A tattoo.’_

‘Yeah,’ Gou yelled back, mashing buttons and sending her opponent flying with an upper cut.

‘Mindless violence,’ Rin said sitting down next to her after somehow managing to carry his bowl of food and two bottles of beer. ‘I have no idea why you like this so much.’

‘Yeah well,’ Gou answered casually, her character avatar finishing off her enemy by just ripping off their head wth brute force, dropping it to the ground. ‘I bought this with my money so ‘m allowed to play when I want.’

Sousuke sniffed from hi spot leaning against the wall. ‘Decapitiations and blood. Just what your brother wants to see eating dinner.’ He looked to Rin. ‘How is it?’

Rin nodded over a mouthful of noodles and pork strips, swallowing before speaking. ‘Sousuke I dunno ‘ow you do it.’

‘Kitchen apprentice remember.’

‘And now a mechanic in training.’ Gou said, taking a pull of beer and starting a new round.

Sousuke shrugged. ‘I better clean the kitchen.’

Rin scarfed down the rest of his dinner, burning his tongue and throat. As a salve he skulled about half his beer. Al thought that did n’t really help. Now his mouth just stung. ‘I’ll help,’ he got up, scrambling to follow Sousuke, who had already pulled on a pair of pink rubber gloves.

Sousuke smiled, albeit a little confused. ‘You don’t have to.’ He outstretched a hand to take Rin’s bowl. He clutched it defensively.

‘No it’s fine I’ll wash it. I want o help.’

‘You can be on drying duty then,’ Sousuke said, pulling a tea towel from the oven handle and throwing it at Rin, who just raised a hand and caught it with ease. Glad to know his reflexes were not getting worse.

He passed the bowl eventually to Sousuke and took his place at the end of the sink, taking up what his roommate left on the drip rack.

They did not speak. It was a simple and effective conveyor system. Ignoring the blood-sodden death groans and the constant snap and crack of breaking bones, it was nice. After a while Rin stopped being able to see, his brain mostly turned off. No thoughts. No nothing. Just circles around a pan.

‘Hey?’ Sousuke clicked at him a coup 'You can put the pan down you know. Hey. You OK in there?’

Sousuke clicked at him. It took a second but Rin refocused. ‘Huh?’

‘You feeling OK?’ Worry lines etched themselves into Sousuke’s brow.

Rin shrugged. ‘Just tired I guess.’

Sousuke looked back at the sink and then back at Rin. ‘I think I know something that might wake you up.’

Before Rin could ask what, Sousuke pushed a palm full of bubbles through Rin's hair.

'What the fuck, Sousuke!' RIn practically screeched, dropping the pan he had been drying for the past 3 minutes, making a loud clatter on the kitchen tile. Sousuke laughed at Matuoka’s new hair style and Gou ran in looking pretty worried. RIn tried to scrap his scalp free of the suds. He glanced at the rag still in his hand. He looked up at Sousuke. and crocodile smile spread over his face.

‘No. No,’ Sousuke chanted at the realisation.  ‘Rin i'm sorry,' Sousuke tried backing away, hands up in defense, but also trying to keep down rising bubbles of laughter.

‘It's only fair,’ Rin said on the advance.

‘This isn't fair, this in in no way fair. Rin no,’ Sousuke, while still laughing, sounded more panicked than mirthful.

‘Turn around, Sou’

‘This is so gay,’ Gou mumbled from the doorway, shaking her head.

Sousuke jolted into stepping away, his longer strides allowing him to hide in the bathroom faster than Rin could catch up with him.

Rin banged on the door. Gou followed behind, arms crossed, looking and feeling very bemused.

'Sousuke, come out of there and take your punishment.'

‘Totally gay,' Gou said, less to herself and more to an unseen audience.

‘Shut up Gou! Sousuke, come out here and take your whipping. This is what you deserve.’

‘No,’ Sousuke was still laughing beyond the door.

Rin ran a hand through his hair in frustration, the strands felt greasy. Suddenly so did the rest of him that was unclothed.

‘Well at least come out so I can have a shower.’

There was a measured pause.

‘You won't whip me?’

Rin shrugged even though Sousuke could not see. ‘Promise.’

The lock clunked. The door opened a fraction. Rin could just see his friend. An arm stuck itself between the gap.

‘Pinky promise?’

Rin snorted. ‘You’re lame.’ The arm didn’t move.

Rin rolled his eyes. ‘Fine.’ He linked little fingers with Sousuke. ‘Fucking weird-ass dork.’

Sousuke smiled at the fainthearted abuse and opened the door proper. ‘Want me to run the shower while you grab your stuff?’

‘What are you, my mum?’ Rin asked, throwing the dishcloth at Sousuke and heading into his room.

Sousuke leant on the doorframe as Rin shuffled through his wardrobe to get a towel, his drawers for underwear, his bag for his phone. ‘Just wanted to help.’

Rin felt slightly guilty. ‘Yeah. I know. Sorry.’

Sousuke raised an eyebrow. ‘Why?’

Rin shrugged. ‘Just am.’

Sousuke glanced at his watch. ‘It’s getting late so no singing,’ he warned.

Rin closed the door in his face, poking his tongue out. Since when did he become so childish?

After setting down his towel and clean underwear near the sink, he turned the shower on and stripped. Rin flicked through his phone for the right music before eventually just hitting shuffle. Not that that helped. He flicked through again. No. No. No. Ye-wait, no. No. No. Maybe? OK, yes.

He put the device on the windowsill, opening the window itself from the top. He stepped into the tub and then under the spray. After a minute of soaping and avid scrubbing, Rin felt somewhat human again.

Red hair, now wet, hung in thin tendrils in front of his eyes. He ran it back with a palm of shampoo and then roughing it with lather. Maybe I should cut it, he thought. Gou could get the back. But what style then? Rin could not imagine himself with something as short as Sousuke’s buzz cut; his hair was not thick enough to suit it. He had had this style for so long, he doubted whether anything else would suit him. He would ask Gou. She had a better sense of style than he did. Yeah. He would ask Gou.

The bouquet now dripping off his hair was not its normal one and it took him a second to recognise he had used Gou’s unnecessarily fruity-floral body wash in place of his own, far more masculine, scrub.

At least in this case he could pass it off as tiredness. God he was tired. He slid down the shower wall and pulled back his hair. With his knees up to his chest, he reached for the soap, cleaning the rest of him; torso, face, legs. He had never had much hair on them and he used to wax with help from his sister back when swimming was, or help from his best friend when he was in Australia. (It totally was not weird.) But since he had not waxed or shaved in a good while. It was not like he needed to, the hair was very fine and surprisingly pale so as his tan lessened since returning from Australia, it was practically invisible.

Rin rinsed himself of all the bubbles until his skin was tight and warm. The steam had to be doing something to his brain because he felt the necessity to lean his head against the tiled wall. Rin felt so warm. So warm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yea...i'll try and update sooner rather than later...
> 
> if this is a thing you are keen on, kudos&comments are always appreciated xx

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a thing. Born out of a gang/yakuza AU that I started in 2014 and that is where it is staying, I had a chat to [beth thecaravanpalace (go follow her)](http://thecaravanpalace.tumblr.com/) about "what if the the boys had/got tattoos/what would they each get/whatever mods would they have" and then i attempted a plot and then I tried to do the nanowrimo thing which didn't happen because school. At the moment, the entire document is about 11K. That is to say, I'm still writing it. And chapters will be sporadic in terms of being posted. (I have a personal policy of not posting one chapter until I have _at least_ the one after it finished.) I am going back to school in less than a month (woo go Australia) so I will be writing less during the term.
> 
> that being said, if you like what you've seen so far, then please let me know with a kudos, comment, carrier pigeon or an inbox on [my tumblr](http://sharkplant.tumblr.com/) or [the au's dedicated tumblr](http://neveryield-au.tumblr.com/) xx


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